Tomorrow is April 20th - 4/20 on the calendar - a day that has become known as a day to smoke weed.
Even before marijuana was legalized in 18 states, Washington, D.C., and Guam, massive smoke-ins were held in cities across the country. One of the largest smoke-ins occurred annually at the civic park between the Denver City Hall and the Colorado Capitol building.
Every 4/20 huge crowds would defy the law and light up, and the generally peaceful crowd was allowed to participate in the activities with basically no fear of being arrested. The few arrests came from unruly behavior rather than actually smoking pot.
How did 4/20 become known as the day to smoke weed? And is there a strong motive for the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana across America?
There are myths and rumors still flying around about the origin of celebrating marijuana on 4/20. It has been said that 420 is the number for the police code for marijuana smoking in progress. April 20th is the birthday of Adolf Hitler; and it is believed that the reference to 4/20 goes back to the Bob Dylan song, “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” because if you multiply 35 by 12 the answer is 420.
All of the myths and rumors are FALSE. The reference to Hitler’s birthday and the Bob Dylan song are big stretches in search of a connection. The only one that even sounds legit is the police code of 420 - which is NOT the code for pot smoking in progress. The actual story of 420 goes back to a group of high school students in San Rafael, CA.
Once a week a group of high school students met at 4:20 pm to smoke pot and to search for a plot of land nearby that was alleged to be a large crop of marijuana growing since a U.S. Coast Guard member started the crop but left it unattended. The students even had a map that was supposed to lead them to the place where marijuana had been growing in the wild for years.
The group of students became known as The Waldos, and every week they would meet at 4:20 pm to smoke pot and search for that field of marijuana. Since “The Waldos” met at 4:20 pm, 420 became the code for smoking pot.
Steve Capper, one of The Waldos, said in an interview in 2017 that, “Our teachers didn’t know what we were talking about. Our parents didn’t know what qwew were talking about.” Soon the code of 420 became part of the lingo among the students and eventually spread to the community and the country.
Steven Hager of High Times magazine first mentioned 420 as the code for smoking week in May of 1991 and linked The Waldos to the code in December of 1998. Since then, 420 has become the widely accepted reference to smoking pot.
Will legalizing pot lead to problems in society?
In 2022, 18 states, Washington D.C., and Guam have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. Many other states, including Louisiana, have legalized the medicinal use of marijuana.
Supporters of legalizing pot argue that legalization will reduce crime, increase tax revenue, take pressure off the criminal justice system, improve public health and traffic safety, and spark the economy. Opponents naturally argue that legalizing pot would increase drug use - especially among teenagers, increase crime, destroy public health, make driving more dangerous, and lower IQs among teens.
Countless studies have been done by both sides supporting their positions. Only one thing seems clear - the studies appear to be motivated by interpreting the data from the studies with a biased view. For example - in states that have shown an increase in marijuana use after legalization, closer examination reveals that in the years leading up to legalization there was already a pattern of a steady increase in smoking pot. The studies that appear to show conclusively that legalizing pot will inspire large increases in the use of pot are cherry-picked and do not reflect the whole picture.
Another argument against legalizing marijuana comes from traffic studies showing that driving becomes more dangerous in states where pot is legal. In 2015, a study showed that marijuana-related traffic fatalities increased by 4% in the state of Colorado, but the same study revealed that after decriminalizing pot in California in 2011 led to zero increases in marijuana-related fatalities. In the state of Oregon, there was a slight spike in marijuana-related traffic fatalities after the legalization, but what opponents of legalization don’t tell you is that the rate of traffic fatalities had been increasing in the years leading up to legalization of pot.
Those who support legalization have argued that legal pot has the potential to reduce the number of drunk drivers on our roads, and most experts concluded that alcohol more impairs drivers than weed.
An objective view of the arguments over whether to legalize marijuana shows that there conclusive studies that prove legalization either improves or harms society yield no consensus. Each side can use the data from studies to prove their point, but detailed analysis of those studies fails to prove either point.
The legalization of marijuana has become a political topic. Generally, the right believes that legalizing pot would be detrimental to society, and the left argues that it is a relatively harmless natural-grown substance that should be legal.
The right - conservatives - is supposed to support less government intervention in the lives of individuals. Plus, there are probably as many conservatives smoking pot as there are liberals. One of the working definitions of the term “conservative” is the resistance of change. Legalizing marijuana would be a major change in the psyche of America, where pot was legal until 1913.
Today, marijuana is listed as a Schedule 1 drug with the federal government making it equal in status as heroin, which seems to defy the common knowledge of the actual effects of marijuana on society.
Attitudes toward legalizing marijuana are changing nationally, including in red states like Louisiana, where a majority of citizens now approve of the legalization of pot. I believe it’s safe to say that the day is coming when the recreational use of marijuana will be legal across the nation.
And for those who might argue against legalizing something that can be a detriment to society is not necessary - that same argument could have been used when the recreational use of alcohol was legalized in 1933.
Once legalized - we found ways to control it with the knowledge that no laws would be 100% effective.
Let’s get past the wholesale paranoia America has had for legalizing pot and adhere to conservative ideology - the power lies with the individual to make decisions concerning his or her life.
